Most gas-fired barbecue grills are comprised of a cooking chamber and a cart or frame assembly. The cooking chamber most often has a hinged lid and is mounted on top of or supported by the cart or frame assembly. Typical carts are constructed of a plurality of frame members such as molded plastic parts and/or metal structural tube members which are bolted, snapped, and/or welded together. The carts are quite often enclosed by panels and have doors at the front side for accessing the interior of the cart. Many gas-fired barbecue grills have a plurality of shelves; typically, there is one shelf in the lower portion of the grill and at least one side shelf. Some gas grills incorporate auxiliary burners on the side shelves to provide an additional cooking location.
There are essentially two options for providing fuel to a gas grill. Assuming natural gas is available, the grill can be hard-piped to connect into the natural gas lines. Such an installation is sometimes preferable if portability is not a concern. However, many users either do not have natural gas or prefer flexibility in use of a grill. For instance, some users do not have space for a permanently installed grill. For those users, it would be preferable to have a self-contained unit that can be moved from one location, where the grill is stored, to another location, where the grill is actually used to cook food. Thus, gas grills are commonly designed for use with refillable tanks (also referred to as cylinders). The refillable tanks are generally placed in the lower portion of the cart on a shelf. The refillable tanks provide a fuel source, such as liquefied propane gas (“LPG”), such that the grill is self-contained and can be used at a location away from a hard-piped source of gas.
Most consumers own more than one fuel tank, so that a full replacement tank is available when the first tank runs out of gas. Having a replacement tank available allows for uninterrupted cooking. It is known that many consumers store their replacement tanks alongside the first tank, on the grill assembly. Often times, the consumer will store the replacement tank in the cart, which could be enclosed. Unfortunately, there are inherent dangers related to such use and storage of fuel tanks. First and foremost, LPG is highly flammable. Considering the flammability of gas tanks, it is important to minimize the amount of fuel which is stored on the grill to reduce the chance for fire and/or explosions, especially for grills which have enclosed carts. Consequently, consumers who store replacement tanks on the grill are subject to increased risk of fire and explosion. Secondarily, gas tanks can be heavy and unwieldy when full. Most prudent grill manufacturers design the grills such that the tanks are optimally placed to prevent a high center of gravity. However, it is likely that the grill manufacturers never contemplated the grill cart to be used for storage of a replacement fuel tank. Consequently, prior art grills which hold replacement tanks may present a tipping hazard. For these reasons, it is important to configure the grill cart such that only one fuel tank may be placed in the interior of the cart, thus reducing the source of flammability and reducing the weight of the grill.